How Do I Get the Smell Out of This Wallaby?

[MedusaOblongata]

I just received a wallaby hide, hair-on, in the mail and in a few hours the whole room smells like unwashed dog (no dog has a tail that big, so it's definitely not a dog skin). Usually I look forward to leather in the mail because it smells so good! I can't make anything out of this, not smelling like this. Can I shampoo and condition it, or will the water stay in the fur and leather or something?

 

Thanks, guys

[Rahere]

It has been tanned properly, I presume? Give it a wash through, at least.

[fredk]

I would wash it out carefully using a dog / animal friendly shampoo. Shampoo for humans has additives which are not good for animal hair. Then hang it out to dry where there is plenty of air blowing and comb or brush it down as it dries

[MedusaOblongata]

19 hours ago, Rahere said:

It has been tanned properly, I presume? Give it a wash through, at least.

It appears to have been tanned as well as any other leather, completely. 

[Handstitched]

G'Day,

Out of curiosity, where did you get the Wallaby skin from?  its an Aussie marsupial . I have hair on roo hides , ( same ' family')  and even some  hair on Possum skins from NZ , and they have no smell whatsoever . 

Curious

HS 

[MedusaOblongata]

Pics attached here. The backside is a bit mottled, like something may have been spilled on it or glue removed. Decent shape otherwise, though. The only marking on it says "=58" The fur is very soft. 

I got it from an online auction, the seller didn't know anything about it, other than they said it was wallaby. They could have been wrong, but I don't know what else it could be. 

 

(Off topic, but in case anyone's wondering, what you can see behind it is my leather hanging system. It's 1/2" plumbing pipe screwed into ceiling joists with metal clothes hangers hanging on it, and leather hanging from those using 1" rug clips, which do dent the outer leather, but don't put holes in it like shower curtain rings would. It makes it easy to browse for leather as you would for clothes in a closet, with leather neither rolled up nor lost behind or under other pieces of leather.)

[Rahere]

The reason I asked is because there used to be a tradition of cure-your-own, which may or may not have faded. The mottling suggests it was less than professional, I'm afraid.

Hopefully a strine will pick issues with this pom and more usefully, tell you how to figsit.

[Handstitched]

Its sometimes difficult to tell, Wallabies are sometimes  brindled, depending on the breed, they are from the same family,  but I'm leaning toward a small  red kangaroo , they're mostly from up north . Fully grown, they're like the hulk, .... don't ever  p....  them off !!  We have western greys in our area.  That skin looks like it got wet at some point  

@Rahere btw, I'm from Suffolk    

HS

[Rahere]

14 hours ago, Handstitched said:

Its sometimes difficult to tell, Wallabies are sometimes  brindled, depending on the breed, they are from the same family,  but I'm leaning toward a small  red kangaroo , they're mostly from up north . Fully grown, they're like the hulk, .... don't ever  p....  them off !!  We have western greys in our area.  That skin looks like it got wet at some point  

@Rahere btw, I'm from Suffolk    

HS

Might explain it.

 

[TonyV]

smells like  a dirty dog...  looks like it got wet at some point... 

Hmmmm   1+1=?